The coronavirus crisis is affecting various segments of electronics industry in different ways. For instance, while global smartphone shipments have dipped, smart speaker usage has increased. Elektor’s editorial and engineering teams are staying on top of such developments. Let’s take a look at recent electronics news. 
Electronics news byte

Electronics News Update

  • Q1 Global Smartphone Shipments Drop 17%: Research firm Strategy Analytics reported last week that Q1 2020 global smartphone shipments fell dropped 17% annually, marking the industry’s "worst quarterly performance of all time." The coronavirus crisis and US-China trade wars were cited as contributing factors. The firm reported that Samsung led the way with 58.3 million shipments and 21.2% market share. Huawei shipped 48.5 million and Apple shipped 39.2 million units.
     
  • Smart Speaker Usage Increases: According to the "Smart Audio Report" from Edison Research and NPR, 24% of Americans (approximately 60 million people) over the age of 18 own a smart speaker, and of those, 36% report they are using the speaker more often since the coronavirus crisis began. The report also includes details about content preferences: 35% of US owners are listening to more news and information since the start of the crisis.
     
  • Foundry Revenues Expected to Grow Slowly: TrendForce is predicting that foundry revenue will grow between 5% and 9% in 2020. According to the firm, double-digit revenues were expected prior to the coronavirus crisis. Now, the firm anticipates that "the current pandemic situation means the public will almost certainly possess reduced purchasing power." 
     
  • 12.3-MP RPi High-Quality Camera: The Raspberry Pi Foundation has announced the new 12.3-megapixel Raspberry Pi High-Quality Camera. Key features include a 12.3-megapixel Sony IMX477 sensor, 1.55-μm pixel size, back-illuminated sensor architecture giving improved sensitivity, support for standard C- and CS-mount lens, and an integrated back-focus adjustment ring and tripod mount.
     
  • Free NI LabVIEW Community Editions: National Instruments recently released free LabVIEW Community editions — LabVIEW Community Edition and LabVIEW NXG Community Edition — targeted at engineering hobbyists. Intended for non-commercial use, the Community editions feature pro tools that enable designers to “interface and/or deploy LabVIEW applications to popular maker computing targets like Arduino, Raspberry Pi and BeagleBoards.”
     
  • Elektor Helps Elektor Launches “Elektor Helps: Projects”: Last Friday, Elektor launched a "small contest for helpful projects." Participants can share the fruit of their "lockdown labor" in an effort to help the community as a whole! Want to participate? Visit the "Elektor Helps: Projects" site to share details about a project you have worked on during the lockdown period. Elektor is offering three vouchers for €100 worth of LAB equipment for the Elektor store for the three most interesting projects that are new or re-vamped for this purpose. On top of that, it is awarding another €250 voucher for the project that it feels contributes the most to the community, specifically in these times.  

Stay Informed

Don’t forget to visit Elektor’s Electronics News Byte page, and make sure you subscribe to the tag to stay informed about future industry happenings, trends, and product news. We also keep you informed via Elektor's free weekly E-Zine.